Skills shortages despite recession

Warrington, UK - The UK is still having problems filling engineering positions despite the impact of the recession, according to a major international survey for Antal International - an engineering recruitment firm that lists Shell, ABB, Denso Marston and Kimberly Clark among its client base.

Accordin to Antal, its poll of some 39,000 employers across 33 countries, revealed that 11% of employers in the UK are having difficulty filling positions due to lack of suitable talent.

Engineering positions were the roles which employers were having most difficulty finding suitable candidates for.
Lee Narraway, managing director of Antal's UK operation. He believes that problems finding talent in the engineering sector could become far worse in the coming years.

While the onset of the recession has led to a greater pool of labour, in the UK and globally firms are still having difficulty finding people with the right expertise for many engineering roles, said Narraway, who is based in Warrington.

“Engineering clients report to us that there is a shortage of new talent coming through. Added to this the result of redundancies being made in the industry is leading to experienced and potential talent being lost, with redundant workers taking jobs abroad or retraining in different areas.”

The MD concluded: “We are already seeing the shortage of suitable engineering talent now, but when the economy does recover this could become a major issue.”